India to organize its first Mobile Congress in September

Couldn't make it to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona? Well, you don't have to be upset anymore as India is going to have its own version this year from September 27 to 29.

To take place in Delhi, the event will be organized by the body(COAI) with support from the Department of Telecommunications and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It is expected that 8 to 10 major countries will be taking part in this 15 crore budgeted event. An Advisory Committee has been formed for the smooth execution of the event.

It comprises of Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and members of industry, media and other associations to guide the whole project.

"We felt we needed a flagship event in India. In the West we have the Barcelona event (MWC), in the East there is the Shanghai Mobile World Congress -- but there was nothing of that scale for South-East Asia. This event will serve that purpose," said Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI in an interaction with IANS.

Mathews also added that countries such as Sweden, Israel and the UK have already confirmed their presence at the event and they are asking the US and Canada for participating as well.

P. Ramakrishna, the CEO of the event, commented that it will the first of its kind in India and "preparations for it have been going on for the last six months."

The India Mobile Congress will have exhibitions, conclaves and an award session. Apart from mobile and original equipment manufacturers, telecom service providers, many start-ups, companies working on artificial intelligence and robotics will also take part in the event.